Kakuro

A crossword made of numbers: fill the white squares so every run adds up to the total at its start.

⏱5–10 min🧠Easy🔢Numbers & Patterns🖨Printing Recommended

How to play

Write a digit from 1 to 9 in every white square.
A number above a black square’s diagonal is the total of the white squares running across to its right.
A number below the diagonal is the total of the white squares running down beneath it.
No digit may be used twice in the same run, across or down.
There is exactly one way to fill the grid.

None of these give anything away — they are just how people who do these all the time get unstuck.

Start with the runs whose totals can only be made one way. Two squares making 3 must be 1 and 2; two making 17 must be 8 and 9.
The same goes for longer runs: three squares making 6 are 1, 2 and 3, and three making 24 are 7, 8 and 9.
Where an across run and a down run cross, the square can only hold a digit both of them allow. Write the shortlist in the corner.
A run must contain every digit its only possible set uses - if only one square can take the 9, the 9 goes there.
No digit twice in a run. Once a digit is placed, cross it off the rest of that run, across and down.
Check a finished run by adding it up. A run that comes out one short usually means two digits are swapped with a neighbour run.

Have a go at this one first — it is smaller than the real thing. The answer key is hidden until you ask for it.

What to expect on Patreon

Members get something new to solve three times a week — print it, play it, whenever you have the time.

Monday Weekly puzzle Logic, number and word puzzles — a different kind each week.
Wednesday Detective mystery A case to crack: suspects, clues, and one answer that fits.
Friday Weekend Challenge A bigger one, built to last you all weekend long.

New puzzles, logic games and mysteries land on Patreon — ready to print and play.